The Times Of India |
Dec 14, 2017 , 12:13:12 IST
Ahmedabad: PM Modi arrives in Sabarmati's Ranip locality to cast his vote at booth number 115 #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/AzoL3Iu8Vx
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley today cast his vote at a polling booth here, and appealed to the people to come out in large numbers to exercise their right to franchise.
The Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat stood in a queue to vote at the Chimanbhai Institute in the Vejalpur assembly constituency in Ahmedabad, with voters eagerly taking selfies with him.
"Since the last many years we have made good progress in our development journey, and I am confident that people of Gujarat will come out in large numbers to vote for development," the minister said.
"I would also appeal to the people to come out and exercise their franchise and continue the journey," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President-designate Rahul Gandhi on Thursday appealed to the voters in Gujarat to exercise their franchise in the second phase of polling that has begun.
"Today is Phase 2 of the Gujarat elections. I request all those voting today to vote in record numbers and enrich this festival of democracy," PM Modi said in a tweet.
"The ushering in of a new Gujarat has already begun. Your one vote will strengthen and empower the foundations of democracy. I appeal to the people of the state to vote more and more for a bright tomorrow," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
* The first few hours of polling in the second and final phase of the Gujarat elections saw very few voters following a dip in the temperature. Ten per cent voting was recorded in two hours, an official said, adding the process will pick up as the day progresses.
* There were several complaints made to the Election Commission against the electronic voting machines in and around Vadodara city. At many places, the polling was halted due to such malfunctioning.
* There were reports of skirmish in Dhanera town in the Banaskantha, where a poll official was attacked by a group, police said.
BJP president Amit Shah today cast his vote at a polling booth in the Naranpura area in Ahmedabad, and appealed to the public to come out to vote in large numbers to carry forward the "journey of development"
He came to the polling booth at the Naranpura sub-zonal office to cast vote along with his wife Sonal Shah and son Jay Shah.
"I would like to appeal to the voters to come out in large numbers to cast their vote to take ahead the journey of development," Amit Shah told reporters after coming out of the polling booth.
He said the development model of Gujarat is "praised across the country".
"I believe this tempo should be maintained, and the people should vote in large numbers to give a befitting reply to those opposing the Gujarat model," he said.
Visuals from Ahmedabad's Sabarmati, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will cast his vote at booth number 115 here. #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/bjj86USiO8
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
PAAS leader Hardik Patel casts his vote in Viramgam #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/lKsSnlDSuf
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
A total of 63 complaints of EVM technical glitches received so far. 34 machines have been. No incidence of violence reported anywhere. Compilation of data for first two hours is on.
Main Gujarat ki janta se appeal karta hoon ki vo bhaari maatra mein aayen aur vote karein, vikas yatra ko qayam rakhein.
FM Arun Jaitley in queue to vote at polling booth no.961 in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/PKtYjjkwbt
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
Media surrounds #BJP President #AmitShah as he leaves after voting in Ahmedabad's Naranpura #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/W7faqYT9x5
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
BJP President Amit Shah cast his vote in Naranpura #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/dFQyY5JIDQ
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
* Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail helps voters to physically confirm the choice they have made. It consists of a printer that gives a record of voters’ selection, and a display unit that shows any error.
* The printed VVPAT slip will be displayed for 7 seconds before it is automatically cut and delivered to a sealed ballot compartment.
* The slip contains candidate serial number, name of the candidate, and corresponding symbol. VVPAT paper roll is designed for printing 1,500 ballot slips for each election.
* All polling stations to be friendly for persons with disabilities.
* One booth in each of the 182 constituencies to be an all-woman managed polling station.
* Samadhan, a public grievance redressal and monitoring system, for candidates and public to lodge complaints with the EC, email ceo.complaincell@gmail.com and SMS on 7574950007.
There are 1.4 crore Patidars all over the world, according to the Shri Umiya Mataji Sansthan, of which 10-12% live outside India. The two sub-castes of Patidars are Kadva and Leuva. Unjha town in Mehsana district is the site of Umiyadham – the most important temple dedicated to the kuldevi (clan goddess) of Kadva Patidars. The temple is 160 years old. Besides this special significance, comes the sheer numbers. Kadva Patidars make up 42% of the Unjha electorate. Hardik Patel is a Kadva Patel. According to Vikram Patel, who recently took over as chairman of Shri Umiya Mataji Sansthan from Narayan Patel, the Unjha MLA, Kadva Patidars, who are concentrated in north Gujarat and parts of Saurashtra, were once the poorer of the two subcastes, but are catching up.
PM Modi's mother Heeraben cast her vote in a polling booth in Gandhinagar #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/5PJxvGbf91
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
Currently, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and all other seven municipal corporations are in the hands of the BJP. The AMC covers 16 assembly constituencies of which 14 have remained with BJP. Ever since Modi became Gujarat’s CM in October 2001, Ahmedabad has been the showcase of his ‘development model’. Be it the BRTS, the Sabarmati riverfront, Kankaria lakefront, Vibrant Gujarat business summits, GIFT City, metrorail, municipal tax reforms, ring roads, DMIC corridor, EWS housing, the bullet train and then Unesco recently inscribing Ahmedabad as India’s first World Heritage City. Though BJP maintains its dominance over these constituencies, the 2015 Patidar agitation followed by demonetization and GST make it appear a tad vulnerable. Senior BJP party leaders claim that they are working harder in Patidar and trader dominated constituencies like Thakkarbapanagar, Sabarmati, Bapunagar, Naroda and Nikol.
PM Modi's mother Heeraben arrives to cast her vote in a polling booth in Gandhinagar #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/orVeaNEKY6
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
Former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel casts her vote in Ahmedabad's Ghatlodia. BJP's Bhupendra Patel is up against Congress's Shashikant Patel on this seat #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/4uVYtOf2bg
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
Hardik Patel's parents pray as voting for second phase of #GujaratElection2017 begins pic.twitter.com/YZAaAtMWL6
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
More than 40,000 government employees are involved in the election process. “The officials in-charge of booths will stay at their designated spots till the voting process is completed on Thursday. There are 21 seats in Ahmedabad district — 16 in the city and five rural seat — with 52.75 lakh voters. Voting would take place from 8am to 5pm on Thursday. For the first time, there will be 21 polling booths — one in constituency — where all the officers and personnel will be women. The district has 5,451 booths,” said a senior official at the collector’s office.
According to top police sources, in addition to 600 companies of Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF), nearly 60,000 jawans and officials, 38,000 police personnel, and 36,000 Home Guard personnel have been deployed on election duty. Senior police officials said that local police have been instructed to visit polling booths and to carry out anti-sabotage checks before the polling begins. Additional DGP administration Mohan Jha said three-layer security will be deployed at strongrooms where EVMs will be stored, and at the counting stations.
Even as the state goes for the second phase of voting in the assembly pollson Thursday, around 7% voter slips in 21 constituencies across Ahmedabad district remained undelivered to the voters by poll officials for various reasons. There over 52 lakh registered voters in Ahmedabad district out which around 3.69 lakh voters have not got their voter slips.
Additional District Election Officer Rajendra Sarvaiya said that there are several factors responsible for nondelivery of voter slips. "In most cases, the voters have either migrated to other addresses while some were not available when our officials visited their residential premises. In some cases, the voters have either expired or were out of station. According to norms, we have to hand over the slip to the voter in person,” Saraviya said.
#GujaratElection2017 : Voting underway in Viramgam's polling booth number 252. This is PAAS leader #HardikPatel 's home town pic.twitter.com/gwz1ix19AU
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah, former deputy PM and Gandhinagar MP L K Advani and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley are likely to vote in Ahmedabad for the assembly elections. Although all these four leaders though live in New Delhi, they are registered as voters in Ahmedabad. PM Modi is expected to come to Ranip area in Ahmedabad to vote at around 11.30am. Amit Shah will vote from the are of his old residence, Naranpura. Advani will vote in Shahpur ward and Jaitley in Prahaldnagar. Deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, Anandiben Patel, Bharatsinh Solanki, Shaktisinh Gohil and Hardik Patel are among those who will vote.
